Mom of Christa Pike’s victim breaks silence after witnessing ‘mess’ execution attempt

Martinez traveled from Florida to Nashville this week to witness the execution of Pike, who was convicted in 1996 of murdering her daughter, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, in Knoxville in 1995. Pike and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, were found to have beaten and killed Slemmer after Pike accused her of trying to steal her boyfriend.

Speaking to NBC News in a phone interview Thursday morning, Martinez said the execution did not go as expected. “They went to try to execute her, and she didn’t die,” she said.

Martinez said she and other witnesses were given little information in the moment. “We didn’t know anything until we got up to the office and saw the commissioner. And he said that it didn’t work, that it didn’t work, and she’s on her way to the hospital,” she said.